The Only Exception
by Orchid Falls
Summary: There's only one reason why Mako doesn't run head first into danger and it's usually stood right next to him.


**The Only Exception**

Korra is out of the water before Mako can even blink, a storm of water circling around her body as she's thrust into the air, an unstoppable typhoon chasing after Amon and the equalists, with nothing but a light spray of water hitting his face in the wake of her leaving.

"Mako?" Mako looks at his brother, the way he's wide-eyed and stock still, watching Korra raise herself higher, oblivious to Pabu running circles around his feet and scrabbling at his trouser legs in an effort to get up off the ground as glass falls from the shattered ceiling around the three of them. "We have to-" He's cut off when Korra starts to fall, arms scrambling at thin air as the water channelling around her slows to a halt and then drops, disappearing beneath her feet as she starts to freefall. "No… Korra!"

There's a second when Mako's heart soars into his throat, Bolin's hand gripping his wrist tight enough to bruise as Korra falls helplessly back towards the ground, no one to support her and nobody to catch her, her cry ringing out sharp, the loudest sound in the arena, and for a second Mako remembers back to earlier when Korra's hand had been there to wrap around the back of his shirt, the cotton slipping through her fingers inch by inch even as she refused to let him go.

Fire's never been able to catch anyone, and not for the first time in his life, Mako finds that he's helpless, but Bolin's moving, hand hitting the ground before there's a blur as Chief Bei Fong's wires stretch out, faster than lightning, wrapping around Korra's midriff and stopping her fall; stopping Mako's heart all over again, a fancy flick of her wrists as she throws Korra up, up towards Amon and the equalists and out of his sight once again.

"We have to do something," Bolin tugs at his wrist, hand slipping to catch at his sleeve as Pabu scrabbles up onto his shoulder, trying to nuzzle his way into Bolin's uniform and away from everything.

"Right," Mako agrees, just as the sight of Tahno and the rest of the wolf-bats being dragged out of the water hits him. They look like drowned rat-beavers, the lot of them, Tahno's hair flopping down over his face in a way that just a few minutes earlier would have been funny, something that Mako would have paid to see. From the stands come a few rag tag officials leaving the chase to the police and herding people out of the arena to the rest, to make their way over to haul the wolf-bats up out of the water, their limbs flopping around as if independent from the rest of their bodies.

"Mako," Bolin says again, but this time his voice sounds mournful, scared, his fingers finding Mako's hand and dancing up his wrist, restless. Mako moves without thought, the way their relationship has built between the two of them over the years, his hand moving to pull Bolin in closer, his uniform drying stiff under his fingers and smelling like the minerals they add to the water to keep it clean, but it does the job and Bolin settles with the movement, satisfied that Mako's right beside him.

"He took away their bending?" Bolin asks, voice soft, already knowing the answer.

Mako nods, swallowing thick as he watches a young woman pull what looks like a defeated Tahno into a sitting position, trying to coax him back with what looks like whispered words, the panic in her face as she hurries to get him at least onto his knees if she can, one step at a time before the arena falls down on them completely.

It's the look in his eyes though that fills Mako with dread, bile working its way up from his stomach because he's seen it before, back then, back on the triads that had their bending taken away the night of the rally, the night he nearly lost Bolin to them. There's the same downtrodden movement and sluggish limbs, eyes like they're lost in their own world, like somebody's taken away everything and they just can't comprehend how to even begin again.

And he's already almost lost his brother to them once before this. He won't let it happen a second time.

Bolin moves back a step away from him, but he still hears the sharp intake of breath, the hitch as the rest of that night and what he was so close to becoming comes back into sharp focus for him.

"Bo," Mako says, his voice dry, choking as it leaves him, then stronger, "Bolin."

There's the sound of falling glass as blurred figures dance above them, the sound of more of it shattering as wires slice through the ceiling and bodies go down, rolling, glass unable to take the weight as spider like cracks spread out beneath them.

One of those shadows is Korra, he thinks, looking up and trying to make out where the blasts of fire are coming from, it has to be her, it has to be.

Bolin follows suit, tipping his head back and craning his neck in an effort to find their friend as an equalist comes crashing through the roof, slamming down onto the pro-bending ring. There are screams from the remaining, drifting crowd, a worried shout as what looks like Chief Bei Fong's legs dangle over the side as she struggles to find purchase, striking out with one of her wires and disappearing just as fast back over the edge, disappearing.

Needless to say, Mako's impressed, he's seen headlines of course and read about the great metal bender that is Bei Fong, but seeing her in action, watching her go toe to toe with countless chi blockers and still keep an eye on Korra's back, well it's nothing short of astounding.

Korra's in good hands, he tells himself; Korra will be fine without them.

His brother on the other hand looks pale and even as he tries to hide it, keeping his arms flat by his side, Mako can still see his hands shaking. It'd taken over a week after the equalists rally for Bolin to get back to normal and even Mako had had trouble sleeping, feeling the need to wake up and check on his brother every other minute, but with Bolin waking up the first couple of nights drenched in sweat, screaming down the attic, Mako had made a promise to himself the very first time it had happened, that he'd never let his brother be put in that kind of position again, not if he could help it. Their family, small as it may be, was the most important thing and even Pabu had taken up position curled up at the foot of Bo's bed, protective, preferring to sleep there and risk a swift kick of an awakening than in his usual position of the battered down sofa on one of Mako's old sweaters.

"Korra will be fine," Mako says. "She knows how to handle herself."

"But she's up against Amon," Bolin argues, Pabu's head coming out to chirrup his own opinion. "She's-"

"The avatar."

"Our friend," Bolin counters and that's the problem with his brother, he's always thinking with his heart first before his head even thinks about kicking in with a good solid opinion, but that's why Mako's here, why he always has been and always will be, Bolin needs him.

Mako looks up again but it's still no use and hard to pinpoint one dark shadow from another, but it looks like some of the aircraft is moving off now, making its way away from the arena, and that must be a good thing.

"Listen, Korra will be back soon and she'll need us then more than anything. She'll be fine, Bo, I promise." He smiles, "I told her to be careful."

And it's tiny, hardly there, but Mako still sees the crook of a smile beginning. "Yeah, like she listens to anything you tell her."

"Hey, she has respect for her team captain." He pulls Bolin backs towards him, a one armed hug that has Pabu squeaking in indignation.

And Mako knows that even if it is inevitable, this fight that's coming, he'll do anything he can to help Korra, they both will, but at the same time he also knows that he won't risk losing his brother.

He can't lose anymore family.


End file.
